Fact of the day

Information is the most powerful weapon.

Monday

Fact N°
2699

Coastal populations are healthier (at least in the UK).

A study at the European Centre for Environment and Human Health used UK census responses from 2001 to analyze health data for some 48 million people. After accounting for factors like socioeconomic status and age, they compared people's responses for overall health with their location in the country. People living by the coast reported higher rates of good health than people living inland. The potential reasons for this are numerous, but researchers suggest that living by the coast enables increased physical activity, more opportunities for stress reduction and an increased sense of relaxation.

Tuesday

Fact N°
2700

Feeling awe seems to make time pass slowly.

Psychologists at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business and the University of Minnesota - Carlson School of Management set up a series of experiments to study the effects of awe (a rarely researched emotion, according to study authors). Participants engaged in a mundane word-scramble task designed to provoke the sensation of being pressed for time, then watched a video evocative of either happiness or awe. People who watched the awe video were more likely to feel that time was plentiful.

Wednesday

Fact N°
2701

Hair color may influence long-term health.

Researchers from the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales in Madrid studied the effects on hair color in boar populations, and found that boars with red fur generally had higher levels of cell damage related to stress over time. The study links the prevalence of the animals' red fur to lower levels of the cellular antioxidant glutathione, which inhibits cellular damage. Conversely, boars with gray hair had the lowest levels of oxidative damage. It's possible, according to the study's authors, that the pigment responsible for red or chestnut colorations could "use up" available glutathione, leaving it less available to fight oxidative stress elsewhere (previous research indicates that gray hair is actually a sign of oxidative stress in humans, but researchers pointed out that all higher vertebrates share the same melanins, and that the topic warrants further study).

Thursday

Fact N°
2702

Cheese eaters are less likely to have diabetes.

A study in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition indicates that people who eat cheese have a 12% lower risk of type 2 (adult-onset) diabetes than non-cheese eaters. The study relied on data from nearly 350,000 people across eight European countries, and the research indicated a difference in the benefits of cheese consumption based on nationality (cheese eaters in the UK actually had higher rates of diabetes than their counterparts in other countries). Dairy consumption overall was not linked to any change in diabetes risk.

Friday

Fact N°
2703

The Amish are one of the fastest-growing religious groups in America.

According to a study by Ohio State researchers, the Amish population in the United States doubles every 21 to 22 years, due in part to the likelihood of Amish people to remain within the community and continue to practice their religious beliefs as they start their own families. According to the study, there are a little over 250,000 Amish people in the U.S. and Canada, spread across 456 communities (up from 179 communities in 1990). The study also suggested that, within the next 15 years, some counties in the U.S. may be predominantly Amish (the study's author indicated Holmes County, Ohio, as the likeliest candidate).

Saturday

Fact N°
2704

It's harder for young people to read emotion on wrinkled faces.

In a study published in The Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 65 college students were asked to examine six computer-generated faces, three of each gender, ranging from college-aged to elderly. The students were then asked to rate the intensity of various facial expressions (happiness, sadness, or anger, as well as a neutral face). The participants were best at recognizing anger and worst at recognizing sadness in older faces, but their ability to perceive any of these emotions on wrinkled faces were worse overall. They also perceived these emotions as less intense (e.g. an older person displaying happiness seemed to the participants to be less happy than a young person).

Sunday

Fact N°
2705

Your diet affects the DNA of your grandchildren.

A study appearing in the journal Biochimie indicates that diet affects all of an animal's cells, including reproductive cells. These results are passed down generationally (the effects of the Dutch famine following World War II were observable in the children of women who lived through it). The Biochimie study illustrated that mice who were overfed until they developed metabolic syndrome would pass some of these syndrome's associated traits onto their offspring, who would themselves develop metabolic syndrome, even if they hadn't been overfed.